The following was delivered to the UK Embassy in Jordan first and now making its rounds to others representatives of the Western harlots who support the illegitimate Israeli regime. August 18, 2004 To Western governments supporting the illegitimate Israeli regime. Re: Israel regime’s bombing/ground campaign and siege on Gaza On July 8, 2014 the Israeli regime’s offensive commenced Operation Strong Cliff (incorrectly translated from Hebrew into English as Operation Protective Edge in the media). Israel’s aerial bombardment of Gaza resulted from a persistent battle for legitimacy between it and Hamas. As Israel’s intelligence chief Amos Yadlin was quoted saying, “after Hamas is weakened the residents will gladly accept [Fatah’s Mahmoud] Abbas.” This struggle was defined by an intentional destruction of Gaza and malicious murder of its civilians (Dahiya Doctrine) to connivingly coerce the civilized population away from the legitimate and democratically elected government of Hamas. As former US president Jimmy Carter averred, international entities unbiasedly concurred with Hamas’ win in the elections of 2006. Other experts have also affirmed, Hamas was the victor in a ‘major way’ in the elections. However, immediately after Hamas’ success, Israel began a peccant aggressive policy of execrable marginalization and prevaricated war not against terrorism, but against defenseless Democracy in Gaza. The Israeli regime, America, the UK, and other powerful nations are engorging in the failed tautology of the Cold War in callously assuming separate groups to be monolithic, consequently ignoring the distinct and exigent differences between individual groups along with silencing in truculence their justifiable complaints of oppression. Such policy is a replica of an antiquated psychosomatic King James I witch hunt, with the laureate written on an international festoon, the War OF Terrorism. And as a result, it’s creating monsters – Friedrich Nietzsche- which were never present prior the 9-11 attacks. Such welter is not chary, but utterly ridiculous and shameful! Despicable!!The inchoate situation in Gaza was exacerbated by a valetudinarian Israeli regime launching a military ground incursion on the night of July 17, 2014 to coincide with its bombing campaign. The nadir of the preceding narrative is after a month; approximately 2,000 precious human lives have been murdered in Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 80% are innocent non-combatants. OCHA cites 72%. The Israeli regime admits 50%. Furthermore, approximately 30% of the Gaza population is displaced, 9 UNRWA employees are dead, innocent children were brutally murdered on a beach, a rehabilitation shelter for the disabled and other medical infrastructure destroyed, a UN school along with other educational facilities bombed, energy and sewage in addition to communication infrastructure and journalists targeted, mosques sacrilegiously violated with destruction, over 3,000 civilian abodes made uninhabitable, half the chickens in Gaza slaughtered, long term damage to the agricultural sector of Gaza sustained, a recent estimate approximates the equivalent of 6 nuclear bombs have been dropped on Gaza, etc. Comparing the percentages of civilians killed within a specified period of time, Israel, within a month, has senselessly murdered more civilians than the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Shams, in the latter’s 6 month Northern Offensive in Iraq. The preceding is emetically absurd. It’s immorally repugnant. It’s illegal!

Although the Western media has vacillated -as if on a funambulism- between effective and ineffective blanketing and equivocation of Israel’s criminal acts, it is fortuitously gossamer to the majority of the world’s citizens that Israel barefacedly and disrespectfully-with supercilious impunity- violated the 1949 Geneva Convention (Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 11 of Annex I to the Convention) and the 1977 Geneva Convention Protocol I, Article 54, in Operation Strong Cliff in Gaza. Human Rights Watch valiantly published the following ignominious warning to Israel during prior hostilities, “attacks may target only military objectives.

Attacks targeting civilians or that fail to discriminate between combatants and civilians, or would cause disproportionate harm to the civilian population compared to the anticipated military gain, are prohibited.” Amnesty International also requested the US and other nations to block shipments of fuel and military equipment to the Israeli regime as evidence had mounted of Israel’s war crimes. In response and reprimand, the Israeli regime blocked access to Gaza for representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, intent on investigating the violation of international human rights laws. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross also suggested war crimes were committed in Gaza by Israel. Reputable professors Richard Faulk and Noam Chomsky declared Israel guilty of war crimes. Furthermore, an honest and respectable constituency of United Nations’ officials accused the Israeli regime of war crimes as well. For example, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, concurred that Israel committed war crimes. His spokesman was quoted replying to the revelation of a UN facility being bombed and high civilian death rates near UN locations, “the Israel Defense Forces have been repeatedly informed of the location of these sites. This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable.” Finally, the United Nations has just recently created an investigative committee to determine the veracity of the accusations against Israel, as the former performed in response to the Israeli regime’s blustering 2009 Operation Cast Lead against Gaza.

We assert that Richard Goldstone’s obloquy published in September 2009 in retort to the Israeli regime’s Operation Cast Lead highlighted a policy rather than an anomaly, in regards to Israel continuously violating the Geneva Conventions. On September 15, 2009, the UNHRC published an argosy 500 page report wherein its diligent investigation revealed Israel had intentionally failed in respecting the distinction between civilians and combatants, citing examples of Palestinian civilians shot while waving white flags, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial assassinations, and the IDF using Palestinians as ‘human shields’.

On October 19, 2009, the 47-member UNHRC finally approved a resolution, endorsing Israeli war crime charges. Although the common risible excuse by Israel is that its overwhelming and callously disproportionate military measures are in self defense to rockets fired by Hamas, articles 48 and 49 of the 1949 Geneva Convention state whether in offense or defense, civilians must not be targeted. Furthermore, the UNHRC in Resolution S-21/1 of July 23, 2014 states that Israel must safeguard the welfare and safety of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Therefore, it is the obligation of international bodies and civilized nations to investigate the blatant criminal acts of Israel committed in the recently concluded Operation Strong Cliff, regardless of the Israeli regime’s farcical and incredulous claim of self defense against plucky rockets. In contrast, the massive damage to civilian infrastructure and considerable high ratio of killing more non-combatants than asymmetric irregulars, suggests the Israeli regime is embarking on a continuous COIN scorched earth policy-mowing the grass-with the aim of collective punishment directed at the helpless Gaza population.

Ayelet Shaked

As one member of the Israeli Knesset –Ayelet Shaked- stated in her panegyric on Facebook, “the entire Palestinian people is the enemy. In wars, the enemy is usually an entire people, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.” Referring to the mothers of the dead in Gaza, she declared, “they should go [die], as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.” It is salient to strongly reiterate that article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibits collective punishment. Finally, the malignant act of murdering innocent civilians via an absurd and counter-productive Dahiya Doctrine, only creates or regenerates the very opposition a COIN entity desires to quell. A fact many COIN academics and experts – in the past and now- have notably averred to deaf and blind conservative elements in the military sciences. Such unheeded words and ignored wisdom birthed in the Vietnam Conflict, was also witnessed in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts as well. Gaza can be included to that list now.

Collective Punishment by Nazi Germany There is also another form of collective punishment not involving significant armed exchange , yet it is tantamount to be addressed since it is the crux of antipathy toward the Israeli regime from Gaza. In 2007, Israel and Egypt invoked a modern land, air, and sea medieval warfare siege of Gaza. The siege of Gaza was/is the longest in history- exceeding even that of Leningrad in World War II- despite the hostilities between Israel and Gaza not being classified as a belligerent versus belligerent conflict, or a civil war.

Food, supplies, fishing, trade, and even immigration has been slowed to such a trickle that life is at bare exiguity subsistence for the fragile humans within the Gaza strategic hamlet (in Vietnam we forced civilians to remain in strategic hamlets to protect them, in Gaza it is to bomb them). Fuel imports have been significantly reduced, resulting in blackouts that last 12-16 hours a day. Over 80% of fettered Gazans are in dire need of persistent humanitarian assistance to survive. The International Committee of the Red Cross has cited a spate of over 90% of Gaza fisherman – due to the naval blockade by the martinet regime of Israel -are below the poverty line and subject to the vagary of confiscation of their boats, warrantless and arbitrary arrests, and even death for attempting to fish for shoals past the nautical limits of Israel.

A World Health Organization cited that the level of anemia in babies is about 65%. In regards to agricultural land, EUNIDA notes 46% of fertile farming land is inaccessible due to the blockade. In consequence of a want of materials, the International Red Cross has stated that only 50% of Gazans are connected to a sewage system. In August of 2009, OCHA described a dangerously bleak and severely languishing situation of dire need for humanitarian assistance in result of the blockade. The International Committee of the Red Cross, several UN officials, and others have described the siege as a violation of Geneva Convention laws against collective punishment.

Furthermore. On the peaceful free waters on May 30th 2010, the tittup of a civilian ship Marvi Marmara -with the collaboration of 115 countries set on a heroic trajectory toward a besieged writhing impecunious population in Gaza -in an act of non-violent civil disobedience- to courageously deliver warm blankets, life replenishing food, and other cardinal supplies for survival. The internecine Israeli regime aggressively swarmed the boat with heavily armed commandos in a reminiscent aggressive act similar to what tragically occurred to the honorable USS Liberty. Several unarmed passengers were brutally injured and nine benign human rights activists were callously murdered. As a disgusting and insulting appurtenance to irreparable injury, asinine US politicians attempted to expiate such massacre by submitting US House Resolution 3131 in the 112th Congress, nonsensically demanding that the IHH organization which organized such a laudable and bold act of non-violent civil disobedience, along with other activists named in the farcical resolution such as Ken O Keefe Fatima Mahmadi, Hassan Iynasi, Hussein Urosh, Ahmad Umimon, and more; should be thoroughly investigated as possible equivalents of terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda. Not only was the preceding initiative utterly incredulous and emetically spurious, but it ignorantly targeted individual nesters who are the very bridge which could positively influence the machinery of peace in the Palestinian conflict. Moreover, it highlighted the minatory Israeli regime’s and venal US’ hypocrisy in juxtaposition with another historical event. Imagine if the same reward was administered to the commendable bravery of the Berlin Air Lift during the Cold War?

In addition to its illegal nature, the Gaza siege is/was also counter-productive. The UNRWA in August 2012 reported a foretelling augury, the high birth rates and

diminishing economy will create an influx of youth with no employment. It is a portent that war it seems may be a plausible desideratum for that demographic. Thus more coterminous fighting and repeats of operations Cast Lead and Strong Cliff. Furthermore, the specious objective of minimizing the weapons of Hamas by this siege has failed. As seen, Hamas has employed more qualitative and quantitative weaponry including the launching of the Ababeel drone. Its rockets have farther reach and the casualty rates for IDF soldiers was much higher than in Operation Cast Lead. In addition, the weapons are now being made inside factories within Gaza.

Keith Ellison

The respectable Congressman Keith Ellison, who has visited Gaza three times in the past, has said, “ultimately, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be resolved with a final status agreement, and ending the violence and the blockade is a first step toward a permanent solution.” The blockade only fuels the violence, creates the conditions of insurgency, and is miserably failing in its objective. It is simply not working. We hope that the Israeli regime’s and the West’s promises of ending this siege hold true. We are suspicious!

Eleanor Roosevelt

We would also like to submit that the Israeli regime’s siege and military hostilities against Gaza were in blatant violation of the following venerable principles of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights: article 3, article 5, article 9, article 10, article 11-2, article 12, article 13- 1 and 2, article 15- 1 and 2, article 17-2, article 21 – 1 and 3, article 23 -1, article 25-1. We also remind the esteemed representatives of world peace, that the Israeli regime is not immune from the following organizations: the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR); the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT); the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Nelson Mandela

It is pertinent to sincerely comment on the dubious and deteriorating legitimacy of the Israeli regime. The Israeli colony is a horripilation of an apartheid state much worse than South Africa. As Nelson Mandela stated (God rest his soul) , “we all know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

A proliferating number of Jews have impugned Israel as decrepit Zionism, rather than a symbol of Judaism. Christians have destroyed the myth of a multi-religious Israel by declaring the Kairos Declaration in opposition to Israeli discrimination and segregation. For example, Gaza Baptist Minister Hanna Massad spoke publicly on the gallimaufry in Gaza, wisely identifying that “the root of the problem is the Israeli occupation of Gaza.”Massad continued with a deep sincere message to Christians supporting Israel, “Sometimes my brothers in the West say, ‘This land is promised to the Jewish people; get over it’ But I would say, what would you do for the people who lost their homes and land in 1948?

We have official documents to prove our ownership of the 17 acres my father’s family lost. If we talk about a God of justice and love, how to explain this to the Palestinians who lost their homes and land to Israel? Continuing this siege contributes to raising young people who will use violence because they have little to lose. They’ve already lost almost everything. For example, here’s how many people in Gaza view their experience: We’re not able to live our lives, so what will we lose if we continue this fight? So let us continue this fight until we’re able to improve our lives. At least, let’s open the borders so Gazans have freedom to walk in and out.

The siege must be lifted.”And Muslims within Palestine are realizing the salmagundi answer to this concupiscible monstrosity lays not in conflating religion alone, but in sounding the bugle call for an amalgamated army of humanity. Israel is not only at the proscenium as violating international laws of war, but is has barefacedly violated the Balfour Declaration in that it has entirely shattered the following dissimulated stipulation “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” Israel has also hypocritically violated its own Declaration of Independence in that it has not ensured “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”

What does a clear pathway to final peace in this horrific conundrum cost? The following may reveal how far off the direction of current Western and Israeli foreign policy has been speeding away. The glacier silence and banal marginalization of Palestinian victimization by the Israeli regime from such charlatanic media outlets as the BBC must end. The vituperative and transparent propaganda of claiming ‘religious fanaticism’ as the culprit of resistance to the Israeli regime instead of the ‘oppressive conditions’ of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and apartheid by Israel against Palestinians– as done with the slave rebellion movement in the US Southern states by the slave aristocracy- must be finally concluded as an obvious failure.

Ziyad Yaghi and Mohammed Hamid

The false imprisonment of Americans and UK citizens – as Ziyad Yaghi and Mohammed Hamid- who vocally condemn and limn despotic policies such as Western nations’ blind support for the jezebel Israel and Western jingoism in the Middle East, must be corrected. Yaghi is an American Muslim of Palestinian and Jordanian heritage arrested for his thoughts and associations alone.

Hamid was convicted of being a terrorist for solely participating in innocuous paint ball games which was ridiculously construed as military training by the fantastical UK government. The unjust wrongful imprisonment of Palestinians for solely being Palestinian- such as Alaa Hammad -must be retracted. The racist and the burdensome Kipling notion that Democracy is suitable for Europeans but not for non-Europeans, must be demolished, by accepting the democratic decisions of Palestinians such as the election of Hamas. The proliferating Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian lands created ex post facto – without government vote by the majority must be quickly reversed. The coercion of Palestinians to leave their lands so that Jewish settlements may be built must be immediately halted.

The evil formula which victimized the native indigenous of the American continent must not be repeated in Palestine. The apartheid in the Israeli regime must come to a final and peaceful conclusion. The Palestinians outside of Palestine – based on their own discretion-must be either financially compensated or their inalienable right to return to their ancestral homelands be reestablished. Then we may have a lasting fruitful peace in Palestine rather than a conflict which persistently humiliates all venerable monotheistic faiths, exposes the uselessness and effete power of the international community in upholding international laws, and upholds on a pedestal the dangerous avarice and hypocrisy of so called civilized nations which support the tyrannical Israeli regime.

Therefore, we first demand peace and dignity in Gaza by urging the promised end of the suffocating Gaza siege to be materialized with upmost attention toward continuance and support in its realization. This should entail gradual expansion of the nautical miles allowed for fishing, eventual control of the borders of Gaza by the democratic government of Hamas, re-establishing functionality of Gaza’s sea and airports, and all conditions which shall allow trade, not aid, within Gaza. Finally, we humbly request justice in that people with a conscience, beating heart, and solid rationale wholeheartedly support the implementation of the ICC’s Rome statue -article 15- for Israel to be thoroughly investigated and severely reprimanded for deplorable international war crimes against the Geneva Convention’s norms of civilized warfare, with sincere commitment and seriously meticulous approach to investigating the Israeli regime’s violation of article 6 of the Rome Statute.

We also ask that foreign nationals fighting in the Israeli regime’s offensive forces be investigated for war crimes, to have their passports revoked as with foreign nationals fighting in Syria and Iraq, and that these foreign nationals be held accountable for the violation of their own nation state’s laws against aiding foreign wars. We also demand an investigation of Israeli and Western intelligence’s activities in sparking the initial protests of Syria -as with Stephen Meade and operations Whappen and Straggle in 1940s Syria- and the supplying, training, and creating of the insurgent groups and death squads – as Western activities in Latin America – in Syria and Iraq.

Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi

We also request that special note be made of the Egyptian regime Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi move of worsening the high civilian deaths in Gaza – in a similar move as Bangladesh refusing fleeing Rohingya refugees in Burma to enter their borders while escaping genocide in Burma – by refusing aid continuous times to cross the border of Rafah to helpless innocent humans of Gaza and by blocking all humans fleeing the Israeli regime’s bombing, from entering Egypt from Gaza by the Rafah crossing.

Sisi’s immoral and unethical actions highlight the dictum that one does not have to be a Muslim to do the right thing, one just needs to be a human. Although off topic, we feel that it is in the best interests of humanity and the world, if Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is replaced in the near future with a more moderate, competent, and rational leader of Egypt and that his leadership be heavily scrutinized for its violations of international human rights laws in regards to freedoms for citizens within Egypt and the Rabiya massacre which he has escaped prosecution. Secular and religious terrorism are both equally horrendous!

We remind all civilized nations that international human rights laws are not a meretricious gimcrack as the Israeli regime persistently and tacitly flaunts by its uncontrollable actions and haughty over-confident impunity thrown in the concerned faces of humanity-loving world citizens, civilized nations, and the respectable international community. The preceding demands are the salient footprints which prudent world citizens absolutely expect to be humbly followed for an apotheosis of a better world for all of our posterity. We sincerely hope that Israel will not succumb to the dictum that power corrupts leading to the inevitable outcome of being overcome by a deepening noble resistance by proceeding generations of her many victims, but that mutually beneficial reciprocity of peace may be procured under rational and fair diplomacy by astute erudite humans embracing wisdom in contrast to violent and cowardly obtuseness, if such diplomacy and wise minds still exist today. The Israeli regime has ceased hostilities against Gaza as of now. We Palestinian activists don’t forget. We don’t forgive. Any enemy of Palestine – Fatah, PLO, PA, Hezbollah, Hamas, Gaza, West Bank, Ramallah, etc – is an an enemy of all of us! The more Palestinians you mercilessly kill , the tighter the fibers of strength in our muscles awaiting to flex against overwhelming power.The more heartless oppression, the fiercer the dangerous burning sensation upon you from the noble flame within our chests, burning for justice. The more you cowardly harm those who valiantly defend Palestine, the more risk we willingly accept and the closer the ties of our family. We won’t stop, nor will our posterity.It’s our turn now.

“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or justice…no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

The Ministry of Health Gaza abhors the ongoing massacres of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by Israeli military forces, in which 65 people have been killed and 220 injured since the collapse of the ceasefire agreement on Tuesday – a collapse that lies squarely at the feet of the Israeli regime. Former Israeli Attorney General Michael Ben Yair today admitted that the Israelis staged the alleged Hamas breach on Tuesday in order to assassinate Al Qassam leader Mohammed Deif. This deceitful outrage continues to be used as an excuse to carry out massive attacks on Gazan civilians – according to Israeli news agency ynet a few tons of explosives were used to destroy the building in which Mohammed Abu Shamala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum were killed in Rafah, killing at least five and injuring at least 50 additional civilians and completely destroying dozens of homes, leaving a crater the size of a residential block in their place – and the Gaza health services to pick up the pieces. This deceitful outrage even served as an excuse to bomb preparations for a funeral in a graveyard, killing four people. This deceitful outrage, and the ongoing murder and mutilation of scores of Gazans under its cover, is proof positive of the complete lack of good faith of the Israeli party in the Cairo negotiations for a lasting ceasefire. The Ministry of Health Gaza cannot and should not be expected to mop up after gross Israeli excesses, which blatantly contravene international and humanitarian law, and fundamental human rights. We demand the international community take immediate and concrete action to end the bloody carnage being wrought in Gaza by the lying and murderous Israeli regime. We demand immediate steps be taken to end Israeli impunity for its clear and ongoing war crimes, leaving a trail of dead and injured from every part of the Gaza Strip to the doors of each and every overloaded emergency room still operational. We demand an immediate end to the illegal, unjustified and crippling blockade that impairs the proper functioning of our health sector at the best of times, but that in times of crisis such as these, causes widespread and completely avoidable, unjustifiable and unnecessary pain, suffering and death to our people.

The Israeli news reports that the rocket was launched from an UNRWA school were false. The same media outlets that rushed to report the incident without seeking confirmation from UNRWA are required and called upon to also report the Israeli army retraction. We also call on Israeli military spokespersons and other official sources to ensure the accuracy of their facts before going public.

UNRWA deplores the killing of all children during this conflict, including the killing of the four-year-old Israeli child yesterday and the hundreds of Palestinian children killed since the start of the current fighting. We call on all parties to ensure protection and care of children affected by armed conflict, in accordance with their obligations under international law.

UNRWA is working under incredible pressure right now in Gaza providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting. Even during this extraordinarily difficult situation, we do our utmost to maintain the highest standards of neutrality for our staff, our property and in our installations.

– Ends –

On the record quote from Chris Gunness, UNRWA Spokesperson:

“I hope those news outlets that were so quick to publish the false and damaging claim -- that the rocket which killed an Israeli child came from an UNRWA school -- are equally swift in publishing the fact that the claim is totally baseless. Within hours of briefing journalists incorrectly, Israeli officials retracted their false claim. I call on Israeli spokespeople to check first, before making false allegations and I urge all journalists to check with me first before publishing inaccuracies and falsehoods. UNRWA condemns the killing of this first Israeli child in the latest conflict. We have also condemned the killing of nearly five hundred children in Gaza.”

Background information:

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some five million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.

Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 68 million.

Hamas has signed a proposal for the Palestinians to apply to join the International Criminal Court at which legal action could be taken against Israel, a senior official of the movement said Saturday.

"Hamas signed the document which (Palestinian) president (Mahmoud Abbas) put forth as a condition that all factions approve, before he goes to sign the Rome Statute, which paves the way for Palestine's membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC)," Hamas deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzouq wrote on his Facebook page.

The Palestinian declaration came after two days of talks in Qatar between Abbas and Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal, whose movement is the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP that the Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful force in Gaza, "is currently the only Palestinian faction that has not signed" the document.

"They are studying the possibility of signing," he added.

According to Erakat, "the document calls on president Abbas to sign the Rome Statute to join the ICC, and indicates all the signatories assume responsibility for this membership."

Israel has signed but not ratified the Rome Statute.

Based in The Hague, the ICC opened its doors in 2003 and is the world's first independent court set up to try the worst crimes, including genocide and war crimes.

Since the July 8 outbreak of the latest war in and around Gaza, Israel and Hamas have accused each other of war crimes amid a massive Israeli assault that has killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and left more than 100,000 homeless.

68 Israelis have also died, all but four of whom were soldiers.

Joining the ICC would also expose Palestinian factions to possible prosecution.

The Palestinians had in 2009 asked the ICC's prosecutor's office to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

There has so far been no probe as Palestine is not an ICC member state and its status as a state is uncertain in some international institutions.

However, the Palestinians in late November 2012 obtained the status of observer state at the United Nations, opening the door for an ICC investigation.

The UN's Palestine refugee agency UNRWA on Saturday criticized the Israeli military for publishing allegations -- that have since been retracted -- that Hamas militants fired a rocket from one of their schools in Gaza the day before.

In a statement, the organization called upon "Israeli military spokespersons and other official sources to ensure the accuracy of their facts before going public," highlighting that the organization maintained the "highest standards of neutrality."

The Israeli military said in a statement late Friday that a mortar that killed a four-year-old child in southern Israel was launched from an UNRWA school being used to shelter displaced Gazan families.

It added that it had "conveyed a severe message" to UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority regarding Hamas' supposed "exploitation of civilian and UN facilities as a human shield."

Less than two hours later, however, the military retracted the claim, saying that in fact the mortar had been launched from a school under the administration of Hamas authorities, without offering evidence.

The UNRWA statement criticized the "false" reports spread throughout the Israeli media, adding: "The same media outlets that rushed to report the incident without seeking confirmation from UNRWA are required and called upon to also report the Israeli army retraction."

Israeli forces have bombed UNRWA schools being used as shelters at least seven times in the last six weeks, killing dozens of Palestinians.

The international community has blasted Israel for the attacks, and the agency has repeatedly stressed that it has given the coordinates of all of its shelters -- currently holding around 485,000 displaced people -- to Israeli military authorities.

Israel regularly criticizes Hamas for using Palestinians as "human shields" when launching rockets, and Israel has killed hundreds of civilians in attacks targeting Hamas officials or fighters.